Amazon chief Jeff Bezos gives $2bn to help the homeless

Leticia Stanley |Friday, September 14, 2018

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos walks onstage for the launch of the new Amazon Fire Phone in Seattle

When the richest man in the world wears pajamas to a board meeting, it is sure to turn heads - but Jeff Bezos had a very important reason for doing so. The wealth that Bezos has amassed hasn't come without controversy, as many critics point to poor working conditions at his facilities while others say he doesn't do enough for the public good.

The charitable fund will "focus on two areas", Bezos explained: "funding existing non-profits that help homeless families, and creating a network of new, non-profit, tier-one pre-schools in low-income communities".

Bezos, whose stake in Amazon is worth about $160 billion U.S., says that he'll call it the Bezos Day One Fund. "September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month", he wrote saying Amazon employees around the globe will be wearing pjs to work to show their solidarity and support to children suffering from the deadly disease. Forbes magazine placed him at the top of its list of billionaires for the first time this year, surpassing Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett.

The fight soured many more locals on Amazon and Bezos, and also overshadowed the growing portfolio of philanthropy they had done in the city.

"If you're the president of the United States, you don't take that job thinking you're not going to be scrutinized", Bezos said, adding that he'd had "a couple of conversations" with Donald Trump, though he declined to elaborate.

Bezos asked for suggestions for philanthropic focuses in a tweet past year. Go Gold boxes by Amazon are uniquely-designed packing boxes that feature a gold ribbon - the worldwide symbol of childhood cancer.

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"It's unsafe to demonize the media", Bezos said.

The money, put into what Bezos called the Day 1 Fund, is by far his largest philanthropic donation.

"We will build an organisation to directly operate these schools".

Bezos said early childhood education is a critical area and that "the money spent there is going to pay enormous dividends for decades".

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